1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to surgical instruments used to hold tissue for purposes of suturing incisions or wounds. The new device has a fork with two prongs at the distal end of each forcep arm to hold tissue at two locations simultaneously.
2. Description of Related Art
There are currently in use many shapes and styles of forceps for holding tissue as part of surgical procedures. However, these forceps have a handle with two planar arms extending therefrom. These arms are normally split and may be smooth or have teeth or serrations at the tip. The forceps are used by pinching the arms together such that the tips grip the tissue in the area in which a suturing is to be performed.
When such two arm forceps are used to hold tissue or membrane for suturing, the surgeon must move the forceps from side to side laterally across the wound while inserting the needle and therefore is required to guess distance to attempt to aline the sides of the incision to avoid wrinkling when closing. This problem exists along the longitudinal dimension of the incision as offset between sides will cause tissue to be pulled relative to the distance between stitches. Also, if needle insertions are not at the same relative distance from the edge of the tissue a pulling or twisting between stitches will occur. Both problems cause irregularities and distortions in joining the edges of the tissue which leads to slower healing and the likelihood of a noticeable scar.
The present invention adds a pair of prongs as a fork to each arm of the forceps. The prongs each have graduation measures to determine distance from the edge of the tissue being held. In addition the cross member between the prongs has graduation measures to determine the distance between stitches. The forked suture forceps thereby hold the tissue taut and allow the surgeon to measure longitudinal and lateral distance along each edge of an incision to locate needle insertion positions to align corresponding stitch points to more evenly close an incision.